Oromia regional state makes a call for peace with the militant group 

OLF shane says it does not have interest in negotiating with Oromia regional state but with the Federal government of Ethiopia 

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Oromia regional state last week made calls for peace to the militant group operating in the region. 

It was on Friday during the region’s council meeting that Shimeles Abdissa, head of the regional state, made the peace call for the militant group. 

The group, which the government calls an OLF-Shane, mostly operates in the Wollega region of Ethiopia but is believed to have clandestine cells across the region including within the government structure at the regional and federal levels.

DW Amharic report indicates that the group sees the call in a positive light. However, it made its intentions clear that it will only negotiate with the Federal government, not Shimeles Abdissa-led Oromia regional state.  

The group however is asking for international mediators. It is unclear as to whether the regional government has been making secret negotiations with the group – which calls itself the “Oromo Liberation Army.” 

Merera Gudina, leader of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), is supporting the call for peace. 

But he seems to be skeptical about the independence of the mediators whose identity is undisclosed yet. He also seems to be asking for international actors for the mediation role. 

He is quoted as saying.  “…as things stand now, it is difficult to find neutral entities that are capable of convincing even us who are in town let alone those who are in the jungles. To address demand from the public, it takes a genuine step.” 

“Oromo Liberation Army” had called for a peace talk in the past – soon after the Ethiopian government reached an agreement with the TPLF in Pretoria.  

The government has been saying that it is hard to negotiate with the armed group as it does not have a single command structure.

The Oromia regional government and the Federal government on different occasions admitted that there are elements that have been facilitating the clandestine military operation of the group. 

There were times in the past two years when the regional government made claims that it has weakened the “OLF-Shane” and that it could not pose threat to peace.

In reality, the group massacred tens of thousands of innocent civilians, mostly targeting ethnic Amhara farming communities in what appears to be an exercise in ethnic cleansing. The group has also killed government officials from the region and from the Benishangul Gumuz region of Ethiopia. 

Prime Minister Ahmed’s government has lost considerable public support for its failure to reverse a security nightmare for innocent citizens. In the latest string of massacres,which happened last week and the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission has confirmed it, the radical ethnic Oromo nationalist group has massacred about 50 innocent civilians. 

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